FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
December 16, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORMER CHARLES COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS COUNSELOR SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR DISTRIBUTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ON THE INTERNET
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Frank Corrigan Conahan, age 47, of Waldorf, Maryland, today to 5 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for distributing child pornography, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. As part of his supervised release, Judge Chasanow ordered that Conahan could have no unsupervised access to minors and no access to internet enabled computer or other device without prior written approval of and monitoring by the U.S. Probation Office. Upon his release from prison, Conahan must also register as a sex offender in the area where he resides and works. Conahan resigned as a behavioral specialist with the Charles County Public Schools at the time the federal indictment was returned on August 4, 2008.
According to his guilty plea, FBI agents identified Conahan as the individual who sent 33 emails containing images documenting the sexual abuse of children to a trader of child pornography in Ohio from May to October 2007. Agents searched Conahan’s residence on July 17, 2008 and Conahan admitted that he distributed images of child pornography to AOL users that he met in AOL chat rooms from his basement computer. As part of his plea agreement, Conahan admits that he distributed between 10 and 150 images of child pornography to the trader of child pornography in Ohio.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Details about Maryland’s program are available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele W. Sartori, who prosecuted the case.